City Services Committee Hearing on Boston Rodent Action Plan Status - October 23, 2026

The Boston City Council Committee on City Services, chaired by Councilor Ed Flynn, convened at 10:02 a.m. on October 23, 2026, for Docket #1804, an order for a hearing to discuss the status of the Boston Rodent Action Plan (BRAP). Council President Liz Braden, the co-sponsor, gave opening remarks. Administration officials from Inspectional Services, the Mayor's Office, the analytics team, and the Boston Housing Authority presented an update. Public testimony was taken from residents and neighborhood representatives in person and on Zoom. No minutes were available for this hearing.

Public Comments & Testimony

• Bonnie Weiss, a property owner on Commonwealth Avenue, said that rats will persist as long as trash collection relies on plastic bags set out overnight; bags are ripped, spill onto the street, and create a chronic food source.
• A resident identified in the transcript as D testified that city-owned property in the Bayswater area across from a senior center was left with a trash pile for weeks, 311 cases were closed or marked duplicate, and city departments shifted responsibility.
• Lydia Lowe of the Chinatown Community Land Trust said rodent problems in Chinatown are tied to aging infrastructure, private ways, and lack of trash storage; she called for city-provided containerization and action against abandoned buildings and absentee landlords.
• Harry, a neighborhood advocate, supported moving trash put-out to the morning of pickup instead of the night before.
• Susan Buda, Bay Village Neighborhood Association, said Bay Village has no alleys or outdoor storage and that trash sits out overnight; she also expressed concern that every-other-week compost pickup could increase rodent pressure and said compost expansion needs to be strategic.
• A South End resident named David said the same issues were raised at a December 8, 2022 hearing in the same chamber and recommended a rat czar plus enforcement of existing code, including minimum trash-bag thickness.
• Allie, a Back Bay resident and block-captain leader, reported increased rat damage to car wiring, urged same-day trash put-out, proposed a pilot using thicker black contractor bags, and called for containerization enforcement.
• Kevin Conroy, a lifelong South Boston resident, said his neighborhood has become overrun with rats, called for a central authority and higher fines, and cited absentee landlords and improper trash disposal.
• Bob Lathrop of the St. Botolph Neighborhood Association described a successful grassroots effort with the Colonnade Hotel to contain food sources and supported a rat czar for accountability.
• John Machikowski, a South Boston resident on Acadia Street, said he has killed 40-50 rats this year, including 8 in the past 10 days, and that his son was hospitalized for two weeks with leptospirosis after exposure to rat-related bacteria; he said the city's response has not been adequate and called for more aggressive enforcement and a rat czar.
• Heather O'Brien, from Dorchester and East Boston, said she has filed 247 311 reports over three years about a neighboring developer's unmaintained property, criticized low fines and lack of landlord accountability, and framed rat activity as a public health and environmental justice issue.
• Alicia Manning, a Beacon Hill resident for over 30 years, said conditions have worsened, supported a rat czar, and said the city must address the root cause by keeping food waste from being put out overnight.
• Lexi Gross, an Allston resident, praised Boston's rat-mitigation work and the recent summit, but called for multilingual public communication, a regional approach, and landlord accountability.
• Kelly McGrath, executive director of Brighton Main Streets, said Allston-Brighton commercial corridors have high 311 rat complaints and need the same enforcement and follow-through as residential blocks.

Discussion Items

• John Elric of Inspectional Services (ISD) said BRAP is a cross-departmental citywide effort launched under Mayor Wu and involving more than 18 departments.
• Since January 1, ISD reported responding to 6,018 rodent complaints, conducting 750 rodent treatments, issuing 785 violations, performing 3,000 dumpster inspections, and completing 25 community walkthroughs. ISD has 14 licensed rodent inspectors and almost 60 inspectors who can handle rat-related complaints.
• Jeff Kaplan of the city's analytics team described baseline-and-control evaluation of interventions, ground sensors, camera sensors, a hotspot model for proactive mitigation, and a partnership with Basis AI using ultrasonic audio detection at six sites.
• The city has deployed rodent-resistant Victor Stanley barrels in Boston Common, the North End, Chinatown, and Mattapan Square, and is incorporating rodent-resistant design standards into new parks and public facilities.
• Boston Water and Sewer deployed more than 25 sewer traps in the North End and Back Bay and plans to deploy audio sensors in the North End and South Boston to study subsurface and seasonal rat populations.
• The Boston Housing Authority dedicated a four-person rodent reduction team, offers enhanced pay for staff who obtain pesticide licenses, and is piloting containerization, commercial hauling, and composting at its Commonwealth site.
• Boston hosted the National Urban Rat Summit on September 23-24 with more than 100 academics, city officials, and pest professionals; administration officials said key takeaways included focusing on old infrastructure, food sources, hiding places, and sewer populations.
• Councilor Liz Braden said Allston Village is still waiting for promised rodent-proof trash cans and asked when Allston would be reassessed as a priority; administration officials said they are working with New York on factors that drive rat populations and are measuring tools such as gas-based treatment machines at Ringer Park.
• Councilor Murphy asked about bag-thickness rules; John Elric said the code requires thicker two-ply bags, not regular kitchen bags, and that education is used to reduce time trash sits out.
• Councilor Julia Mejia asked about fines, enforcement, and public data; administration officials said most fines are issued by code enforcement, not ISD, that no public report has been released yet, and that a public report is planned after more pilot data are collected.
• Councilor Flynn said there is a disconnect between resident experiences and the administration's update, called the problem a public health and public safety crisis, and renewed his call for a rat czar and a standalone city department.

Key Outcomes

• No formal votes or orders were taken; the hearing was informational.
• Chair Flynn kept Docket #1804 in committee and said he may schedule another update hearing in the near future.
• Councilor Flynn said he will fight during the budget process for a rat czar and a dedicated city department for pest control.
• Administration officials said they will continue data collection and pilot programs and plan to publish a public report on intervention results by summer 2027.
• Councilor Braden said her office filed a bad-landlords ordinance and noted that a home-rule petition raising the maximum fine to $2,000 was passed; she asked for enforcement follow-up.